New BJP head can disturb caste calculations
With Assembly elections slated for next year in Haryana, besides Lok Sabha polls, BJP replaced its state president Om Prakash Dhankhar with Kurukshetra MP Nayab Singh Saini, who belongs to OBC. However, according to sources, the decision has not gone down well within the party ranks as it is likely to further “alienate the Jat community,” who are powerfull and comprise 25% of the state population. Outgoing head Dhankar is a Jat leader and his predecessor Subash Barala also belonged to the same community. Several MLAs fear that the appointment might disturb caste equation and cost dear to the BJP in the state where CM is a non-Jat.
Cong MLA leaves no stone unturned to reach top
A recent seminar held at the Panjab University on the SYL canal issue turned out to be an unpleasant experience for Congress. With Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring giving a miss, Congress MLA Pargat Singh, a former Indian hockey team captain, took the opportunity to project himself as a voice of Congress. Among the attendees were former chief minister and Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar. They both spoke over the decades-old issue with neighbouring Haryana.
Punjab ministers asked to campaign in Haryana
Punjab Cabinet ministers have been asked to take the charge of Lok Sabha campaign in Haryana which has 10 seats as CM Bhagwant Mann is occupied in the ongoing campaign for Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. According to sources, the party is chalking out the strategy to reach the Haryana voters. Free power, better health services and quality education could find a mention in the party’s promises for Haryana, sources said, adding that the party believes Punjab leaders can take the message strongly in the neighboring Haryana. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all 10 seats of the state went into the BJP’s kitty.
Harpreet Bajwa
Our correspondent in Chandigarh
hsbajwa73@gmail.com